Journey Planet
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1 2 Edited by John Coxon, James Bacon, Chris Garcia and Alissa McKersie Contents Editorial by John Coxon 4 Editorial by Alissa McKersie 5 Merry Christmas Art by Col Art 6 The Mandalorian by James Mason 8 Halloween as Gateway Drug: This is the Way by Anne, Brian and Rosie Gray 10 What I Want: A Tired Dad And His Little Green Bean by Carol Connolly 12 The Last Jedi: Star Wars Grows Up by Warren Frey 14 The Rise of Skywalker by Abigail Nussbaum 16 What is a Star War? by Hamish Walker 21 The Mandalorian Panel at Star Wars Celebration 2019 by James Bacon 22 Dark Empire: The Original New Trilogy by David Ferguson 27 The De-Canonization Act of 2014 by Chris Garcia 28 Is this The Way? by Ken Marsden 30 Thoughts on The Mandalorian by Journey Planet Contributors 32 The Mandalorian by Jacq Monahan 34 LEGO Razor Crest Build by James Bacon 36 Tattooine by Christine Burnham 39 Hedge Scout 40 The Mandalorian: A Personal Overview by James Bacon 42 Enditorial by James Bacon 46 Image Credits 48 3 Editorial by John Coxon Hello everyone, and welcome to (possibly) the last with it. It is, at its core, a film in which most of the issue of Journey Planet in 2020! I pitched the idea issues that come up could have been solved if some of an issue of Journey Planet focusing on the sequel of the characters were just better at communicating. trilogy to James and Chris at the Dublin Worldcon, And, while that’s not an unrealistic thing to happen, it and then Alissa suggested expanding it to cover does make for incredibly frustrating viewing. The Mandalorian, and the result is the zine you hold in your hands! The ground work for this zine was The Rise of Skywalker is another movie I have a frus- laid earlier in 2020, with a spurt of effort here on 28 trated relationship with. I think Abigail Nussbaum’s December bringing this to you before the end of the review explores the flaws in that movie well, but in Twelve Days of Christmas. a footnote she notes that at least some of the flaws are caused by the relative lack of plot advancement Last time I wrote an editorial in a Star Wars issue of in The Last Jedi. Some were also undoubtedly caused Journey Planet the new show, Star Wars Resistance, by the untimely death of Carrie Fisher; the question had just been announced, and I was super excited of how to give Leia a good send-off without actually about it, and wrote a big long piece about the filming one is a hard one to which I have no compel- Star Wars: Rogue Squadron novels by Michael A. ling answers. Stackpole and Aaron Allston. Having watched Season 1; it was good, but it wasn’t anything like the novels I’d There is much I dislike aboutThe Rise of Skywalker. grown up with, and that made me sad. The Force Lightning that engulfs an entire planet. The fleet of Death Stars (because escalation is always Of course, since then, we’ve had the comic issue great!). But there’s also things I love about the movie, in which the name Rogue Squadron is conceived, and they are in some ways the same things that I and it has been announced (alongside All The Star love about Abrams’ turn with Star Trek: I think that Wars TV Shows) that Patty Jenkins is directing a Abrams gets the characters and the world so right, Rogue Squadron movie, so if you’d like to know more even beyond the plot beats that don’t quite land. But about my thoughts about that, you can go and read my of course, next time, Lucasfilm might want to plan the editorial in that previous issue of Journey Planet for story in advance. my current thoughts on the matter. And then we come to The Mandalorian, which occupies Moving to other parts of the Star Wars universe, I a fair few of the pages in this zine. It’s fair to say that I think I’m the only person in the world who likes all was lukewarm on the first season; the serial nature of three of the sequel trilogy movies. My initial reaction the show has hugely appealed to many, but I found it to The Force Awakens was to go back to the cinema frustrating that Din Djarin was relatively undynamic and see it about on about six more occasions1 and to and there was no cast of recurring characters to play love the movie more every time. It isn’t a lie to say that against him to soften that decision. (Obviously, I loved it completely rekindled my love of Star Wars, after a Grogu.) The last episodes made me reconsider that a long period where I had mostly been a bit cool on the little, as they brought back earlier characters and wove franchise. them together. The Last Jedi and I had a tumultous relationship. My The second season properly started to tell a story, with initial reaction to it was decidedly negative, but on characters that continued across a plot. The lack of repeat viewings I mellowed quite a lot towards it. I continuity again somewhat frustrated me, but the end think knowing that the film is going to be a story about of Season 2 makes me hopeful that we’ll see a larger failure—and a downer ending —helps a lot with the cast going into future seasons. enjoyment of the movie. Equally, having just read the novelisation of the movie, I do still have some issues And of course, there was That Ending. 1 Thanks, Cineworld Unlimited! 4 Editorial by Alissa McKersie As a child of Star Wars, I grew up playing it in the I didn’t want to have my heart broken. I finally feel backyard with friends. We played a myriad of charac- like these are the stories we’ve always wanted, like the ters from the Rebels to Ewoks…we made up our own journey we have been on (especially with Mando) has stories. As it turns out, other kids did that too, and been one of lifelong adventure and imagination… some of them grew up to be movie and show makers. I from the eyes of someone who grew up playing Star can honestly tell you, I went into the last several movies Wars in their back yard with friends. and The Mandalorian with hesitant hopefulness. 5 Merry Christmas Art by Col Art 6 7 The Mandalorian by James Mason Or “a franchise struck down that came back more The eight episode first season proved to be the main powerful than I could have imagined”. draw to Disney’s ambitious streaming platform and a second season was greenlit and then Jon Favreau and I’m going to start things by being kinda mean to the new his team of like-minded creators got to work. sequels but not in a toxic fandom way. I still enjoyed them to a point and they’re technically impressive From the very first episode the show went from having but after the promising start ofThe Force Awakens we a few cool Easter eggs to dropping in some major can all admit that things didn’t turn out that great in reveals for characters that we likely mused about terms of narrative. The Last Jedi took us to unexpected during drunken fan chats in the pub. It could’ve veered places for some beloved characters and that was brave badly into fan service but in the pacing and plot of the and also interesting in that things were subverted. show they were there for a decent enough reason. This The last act of the trilogy then veered back to more show won’t be known for it’s twisty shocking plots conventional expectations but also in ways that nar- but it’ll be remembered for hugely impressive action ratively made little to no sense. If you need to scour and visual flair. The Mandalorian has a pure cinema sourcebooks or “Art of” books then your script for the aesthetic that rivals it’s theatrical siblings. movie isn’t well constructed. I went to see an IMAX marathon of the new trilogy on release and despite Then came the second season. finishing up at 2am I wasn’t just tired from it being late, I was worn out from the rollercoaster of quality Gone was the short story anthology vibe of its debut in Star Wars as a franchise. Then came this show on and suddenly we were getting more than knowing Disney+: winks and nods to Star Wars mythos. In Season 1, a mere sound effect that maybe, possibly, could be Boba The Mandalorian. Fett was actually Boba Fett post-Return of the Jedi. But, not before they brilliantly feint, by having someone A show about a bounty hunter set after the events of else wearing the armour, after buying it off some Jawas. Return of the Jedi. Having a distinctly western vibe and Then as part of that little plot we get Boba Fett himself introducing a character that had everyone hyped but turn up to reclaim his father’s armour and when we ingeniously and very un-Disney-like was kept secret do, boy oh boy do we see some John Wick levels of by them foregoing any merchandising until well after Boba Fett kicking ass. “Baby Yoda” took over Star Wars fandom’s mindshare.